When Fan Innocence Was Lost

Published: July 24, 2011

Alan Schwarz of The New York Times wrote last Sunday that his 5-year-old son, Teddy, was awakened to the harsh reality that sports are a business when the Mets traded Francisco Rodriguez, Teddy's favorite player, to the Brewers. Readers of the Bats
blog were then asked, When did you lose your fan innocence? Here are some responses.

When Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield and Jim Kiick fled the Dolphins for the World Football League after the perfect season. How did that work out, fellas? DIANE

Washington

The day Tom Seaver was traded -- June 15, 1977. I turned 10 years old only days earlier.

STEPHEN P.

Pittsburgh

I lost my fan innocence in the steroid era -- watching an obviously pumped-up Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds smash the home run records. The nail in the coffin was when the Yankees signed Jason Giambi, forgoing any sense of integrity for championships.
ROCKY MTN HI

Wyoming

Aug. 12, 1994, the beginning of the M.L.B. strike that wiped out the World Series.

GENERIC ERIC

New York

It started to crumble when they traded Gretzky to L.A. in the summer of '88. Then when Ben Johnson was caught using steroids and lost his gold medal, it was totally destroyed. I could never completely lose myself in an athletic endeavor after that.
A bit of me was always cynical.

ANDREA FARQUHAR

Alabama

The day McCourt bought my Dodgers.

HIPNICK

Elsewhere, Rocky Mountains

Orlando Cepeda for Ray Sadecki. RANGER MIKE

Friday Harbor, Wash.

When it became obvious what Pete Rose would do for a dollar. SMARCY

New York

When the basketball franchise in N.Y. traded Walt Frazier. I haven't watched an N.B.A game since. AD

Fort Myers, Fla.

When players' personal lives became a staple of sports news. I could have gone blissfully through life with ever hearing about Mickey Mantle's drinking and infidelity. PATRICK

Oregon

I'm old enough to have the ultimate example of lost innocence: 1958, the double whammy of learning my beloved Brooklyn Dodgers had traded the greatest ballplayer and symbol of civil rights I had known, Jackie Robinson, to the despised N.Y. Giants.
Of course, this horrible miscarriage was dwarfed by what followed: the cruel extraction of my entire team to the West Coast. Only those who lived through that sad and tragic time could begin to understand the heartbreak.

JERRY SMORODIN

San Francisco

I lost my innocence when I finally realized how many great black players never got a chance to compete at the highest level.

How will the record books square the steroids era? For me the better question is how the record books will square the exclusion of so many accomplishments never realized. HAL

It's been a very long time, but in my case it was when I discovered that Hal Newhouser was not the greatest pitcher of all-time. I was too young to appreciate that so many really great pitchers and other players had gone off to war. MICHAEL P. WEIN

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

1972. Munich Olympics. I remember thinking, like an 8-year-old, that somehow a superhero would come and save the Israeli athletes from the Palestinian terrorists. That good would triumph over evil. That's what I'd always read (in my comic books).
Then I remember Jim McKay of ABC Sports somberly reporting, ''They're all gone.'' SERGIO

NYC

The moment Steinbrenner fired Buck Showalter, my love affair with the Yanks and baseball was over.

CHARLES

NYC

When the Mets removed the blue and orange squares from the outside of Shea Stadium. The franchise hasn't been the same since.

MARC RAGOVIN

New York

Leaning over the Dodgers bullpen along the bleacher wall on the left-field line at Forbes Field in 1961 and spotting a pack of Marlboros on the bench by Don Drysdale. DT

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Dwight Gooden goes for drug rehab -- April 1, 1987. It is often forgotten what a huge phenom he was in New York at the time. It crushed me. JIM

New York

I grew up in the Chicago area. It was when the Cubs traded Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio. Who is Ernie Broglio, you say? Exactly. DON

Santa Fe, N.M.

The salacious reports of Yankees pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich and their wives swapping partners. I was 10, and unable to fathom what it meant, let alone what it had to do with my favorite team's standings.

KEVIN CLARKE

Oregon

Vince Coleman, after being thrown out trying to needlessly steal third in the bottom of the ninth inning, was testy with reporters, who challenged his judgment. When they mentioned Jackie Robinson, Coleman didn't seem to know the name. During the
same wonderful season, Bret Saberhagen threw firecrackers at fans. That was it for me. VINCENT

New York

The 1992 putsch in which a bunch of boorish club owners unilaterally decided to oust baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent and install their own Bud Selig as czar of the sport still galls me. Selig's stewardship of what was once our proud national pastime
over the past two decades has been startlingly incompetent, and many of the game's problems can easily be laid at his feet.

VICKY

New York City

The day I was priced out of seeing games at Yankee Stadium.

HARRY STAMPLER

Duluth, Ga.

When I had to take my prized, signed and framed Roger Clemens photo off of the TV room wall and hang it in my garage behind the drill press. I was 35. JAY F

Sag Harbor, N.Y.

When Robert Irsay moved the Colts to Indianapolis -- really stopped caring about the N.F.L. at that point.

SAM BUFALINI

Victoria, British Columbia

When the Yankees let go of Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui after the 2009 championship. I loved watching those guys play. MICHAEL

Upper West Side

The day I realized baseball is just another business: April 17, 1960, when the Indians traded Rocky Colavito for Harvey Kuenn.

JOHN

Georgia

The Colts' trading Unitas to the Chargers. I was just a little kid, but that was a heartbreaker. SCOTT

Houston

Innocence was lost the first time the Chicago Bulls players introductions were made into a spectacle, resulting in copy cats all across sports, and raising the bar to the point now where the game is pretty much secondary to the production.

JORDAN

Pelham, N.Y.

I am a 49-year-old lifelong Yankee fan and I lost my innocence in 1975 when Bobby Murcer was traded for Bobby Bonds. It still hurts. MARK62

Weston, Fla.

When the Yankees fired Dick Howser after he won over 100 games. VANEPS

NYC

November of 1975 when the Rangers traded Jean Ratelle, Brad Park and Joe Zanussi to the Bruins for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais. This should not be confused with the later ridiculous trade that saw the Rangers send Rick Middleton to the Bruins for
a washed-up Ken Hodge simply because Phil Esposito wanted his old linemate to be with him in New York.

BROKENHEARTED RANGERS FAN

Syracuse

Red Auerbach let Paul Silas go after the '76 championship. GCINNAMON

Laguna Niguel, Calif.

When Al Davis moved the Raiders to L.A. even though there was a waiting list to buy season tickets in Oakland. The hearts were ripped from some of the most loyal fans on the planet, and pro sports has never been the same for me. MASTAMBAUGH

Fremont, Calif.

PHOTOS: Chicago's Tom Seaver, a longtime Met, at Yankee Stadium in 1985. (PHOTOGRAPH BY RAY STUBBLEBINE/ASSOCIATED PRESS); The Yankees pitchers Mike Kekich, left, and Fritz Peterson, who swapped families in the early 1970s, taunting each other with
signs. (PHOTOGRAPH BY LARRY MORRIS/THE NEW YORK TIMES); Edmonton traded Wayne Gretzky, left, to Los Angeles in 1988.; The taking of Israeli hostages by Palestinian terrorists brought the 1972 Games to a halt. (PHOTOGRAPHS
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS); The Colts' equipment left for Indianapolis in 1984. (PHOTOGRAPH BY LLOYD PEARSON, THE BALTIMORE SUN, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS)